Pachycephalosaurus (Version 1, Carnegie Collection by Safari Ltd)

Despite my lifelong love of dinosaurs, I never made make a point of acquiring Carnegie Collection figures as a child. I suppose I was far too busy acquiring Lego sets and Ninja Turtles. But when my mother returned from a business trip with the Carnegie Pachycephalosaurus as a gift, I was delighted. For years, the toy sat proudly on my bedroom dresser. Then, at some point during my graduate school years, it disappeared like so many other childhood items. I assumed it was gone for good, thought little of it, and went on with my life.

This week, I was going through some old boxes in search of items to sell at my neighbourhood yard sale. Lo and behold, I came across my Pachycephalosaurus! It is now safe and sound with the rest of my now-sizable collection of Carnegie toys. 🙂

This is the original 1990 version of the Pachycephalosaurus. From cranium to tail tip it measures 17.5 cm long and stands 7.5 cm high. In keeping with the popular theory that it used its domed skull to establish dominance among other members of its species, it is sculpted in a charging pose with its head lowered, its right leg raised, and its body slanted to the right. Such an active pose for a dinosaur toy was very rare back in 1990, and considerably difficult to achieve. As such, the Pachycephalosaurus is mounted on an earthen-shaped stand.

The main colours on this toy are grey and black with dark purple shading along the sides and on the hands and feet. The claws are black. The head features white knobs, black stripes, yellow eyes, pink for the open mouth, white teeth, and a splash of purple on the cranium. A decent colour scheme, though not an exciting one. In 1996, the toy was repainted with light grey, lavender, and pale blue, and a markedly different stripe pattern.

The Pachycephalosaurus` skin has a pebbled texture with thicker scales on its underside and running in a row down its back. Accuracy-wise, it has a number of glaring flaws. One eye is set further back than the other and the mouth is lopsided. The neck is too short, the forelimbs are too large, the legs are like tree trunks, and the tail is too short and stumpy. And most perplexing of all, the right foot is missing the inner toe. Later versions would correct this, however.

Although the Carnegie Pachycephalosaurus is woefully outdated and inaccurate by today`s standards, it was quite a popular toy back in its day. There`s a certain nostalgic charm to it, like a bipedal Spinosaurus with a boxy head or a mosasaur with plates running down its back. I am glad to have rediscovered it.